Seven miles north of Hilton Head is an island about 10 times smaller with a single vacation home for rent.
The island has no stores. No restaurants. No traffic. No neighbors.
Instead, St. Phillips Island — an undeveloped barrier island — is pin-drop quiet, with only sharp sea breezes and roaring ocean waves to break the silence. Its 4,680-acre expanse is thick with unfettered vegetation, rich with wildlife and laced with hiking trails. The raised home, dubbed the Turner House, is hugged by a live oak grove and ocean-facing.
It’s safe to say, St. Phillips is a bird-watcher’s paradise, a conservationist’s dream and an introvert’s delight.
That was billionaire Ted Turner’s vision for the Beaufort County island when he bought it and built a home there over four decades ago. And since the state purchased St. Phillips in 2017 and began renting it out last spring, it’s a retreat for those who can shell out thousands.
“This is a getaway where you are disconnected from society,” said South Carolina State Parks Director Paul McCormack. “It’s like stepping back in time.”
A trip to St. Phillips
Skipper Burns had no idea what to expect when his family booked the Turner House for late-July.
“You need to see Ted Turner’s house,” a jet-setter friend of Burns’ told him. “It’s fabulous.”
Familiar with the media mogul and conservationist, having met Turner some 30 years ago, Burns was curious about the vacation home. He and his family were used to vacations along the Atlantic coast, but a secluded house only accessible by a savvy boat captain was an unusual proposal.
For the languid, reading a book on the 820-square-foot, screened-in porch with ocean views or a golf cart ride to the beach would do. For the high-energy, like Burns’ 12-year-old grandson, there were kayaks, fishing equipment and bikes. And for safety and education purposes, an on-site ranger was available to all.
It didn’t take much persuasion for the Burnses to reserve the five-bedroom, five-night stay.
The trip started like all of the other 14 the park staff have hosted since the state began welcoming guests into the home in May 2021.
Packed into a boat, the family of nine made the 30-minute winding cruise from Hunting Island to St. Phillips’ dock, situated along Three Sisters Creek. Up the dock and into a white Chevrolet suburban, a 20-minute drive through a lush hardwood maritime forest dotted with ponds led them to a fork in the road. The right side, a trail to beach access. And the left, a short distance to the pristine Turner House grounds.
“There’s nothing like it,” Burns said.
At 3,350 square feet, the home boasts five bedrooms, five bathrooms, a living room, kitchen, den and a space that can be converted from dining to gaming. Though it’s off the power grid, the island is self-sufficient with solar arrays, propane-fueled generators, a septic system and a reverse osmosis water filtration system, state park officials said.
Five years ago, the S.C. Department of Parks, Recreation and Tourism closed on a $4.9 million deal for St. Phillips, a massive discount from Turner’s initial listing price of nearly $24 million. At the time, the wood-paneled interior and brightly painted bedrooms were modestly furnished and not what one would expect of a billionaire’s home.
Now, simplicity and muted tones reign in what feels like a cozy cabin that’s flooded with natural light. It’s hard to find a room with a bad view, either pitched toward the lulling sea, a nearby pond or the live oak grove.
For entertaining what the state park service suggests is up to 10 adult guests, the bright kitchen flows easily into the vaulted living room, affixed with two sets of double doors leading to the vast porch.
And yes, there is cell service, television and internet, but as McCormack puts it, “it’s a choice to turn them on or use them.”
But what’s rooted in the $12,000 starting price tag to spend five nights at St. Phillips isn’t interior design.
Not even close.
‘Once in a lifetime’ opportunity
When Turner purchased St. Phillips in 1979, he had every intention to preserve the island, even placing it under a conservation easement in 1983 with the help of The Nature Conservancy. Three years later, for its ecological importance, the island was designated as a National Natural Landmark.
And after 43 years, Turner’s original house and an adjacent island manager’s home are the only two structures.
The four-mile-long island is home to wildlife as small as the northern flicker to as burly as the American alligator. One day, a river otter may flit between ponds, while another brings a roseate spoonbill to perch on the branch of a live oak. Under Turner’s tutelage, habitats for loggerhead sea turtles, fox squirrels and indigo snakes were brought back.
Maintained since the state’s purchase, six trails, dense with longleaf pines, magnolias, live oaks and saw palmettos, snake throughout the island and allow house guests and half-day tourists take it all in. And for those staying in the home, don’t fret: binoculars and bird-spotting scopes are included.
A short ride from the Turner House, back where the road forks to the right, winds a beach trail that’s rapidly eroding and lined with bleached live oaks. The erosion is typical to the ebb and flow of barrier islands that can also be exacerbated by nearby development. Most recently, Tropical Storm Nicole ate away at St. Phillips’ shoreline.
Whether a guest knows the ins and outs of an undeveloped barrier island or is an avid birdwatcher, people like Olivia Hirstwilson are there to help.
Operations manager for the island, she is one of the state park staff who are on-site when renters occupy the Turner House. Renters can set up guided tours with the ranger on-site — hiking, kayaking or fishing. With an exclusive rental, tours can be customized to interests during the booking process.
From navigating the tides on a trip to St. Phillips to quickly identifying an alligators’ eyes peeked above the water, Hirstwilson is a wealth of information. And she’s happy to dole it out to get others to share the very nature that still excites her every time she sees it.
For Hirstwilson, St. Phillips is a “once in a lifetime” opportunity. Hirstwilson wasn’t on-site during the Burnses’ stay, but Skipper said his 12-year-old grandson couldn’t get enough of the ranger that week, Kathryn Gompers.
“He asked questions like crazy,” Burns said. “The relationship we established with the ranger was so dynamic. She made life so much easier.”
Determining the price
An on-site ranger? A rich ecological world at your fingertips? A private beach? And an unbridled island for just you and your loved ones?
No, it’s not what you’ll find on the likes of Hilton Head or Fripp islands. And yes, it’s expensive.
For five nights and up to 10 adults, including a $1,000 grocery credit, renting the house while St. Phillips remains open for day tours runs $12,000. Want to nix the day tours and truly have the island all to yourself, with a $2,000 grocery credit? It’ll be $20,000.
When determining the rental price, staff compared the home to similar-sized high-end stays at Hilton Head and Kiawah Island, he said. They factored in the price of boating people out to the island and added in the price of food, as there’s no access to grocery stores or restaurants. It’s not easy, cheap or convenient to transport people and food to an undeveloped island. Last, the staff considered what the island offered that other destinations do not: complete seclusion.
Money raised from the rentals pays for salaries, contracts, gasoline, light and power bills, and other materials.
“This is not a traditional State Park opportunity and that’s because it’s costly (to run),” McCormack said.
Because prepping the Turner House for rental and getting guests situated on the island is more complicated than the state park makes it seem, McCormack said they aim to have the home, at most, rented 12-15 times a year.
Beyond paying for a stay at the house, the only other way the public can visit St. Phillips is through the Coastal Expeditions trip that runs a few times a week and costs $65 for an adult ticket.
South Carolina’s diamond
Before Skipper Burns and his family left the Turner House, one of his children looked at him and said, “This is almost too good to be true.”
“Good, that’s what it’s supposed to be,” he smiled back.
Even his 29-year-old granddaughter who is the hardest to please was thrilled with the trip, the grandfather said. For the Burnses, their children and grandchildren, the barrier island they knew little about became a place they’d like to visit again. They hardly turned on the television.
For other renters, it’s more of the same. Visitors from Virginia, Georgia, Texas, Missouri and a handful of other states scrawled in the Turner House guestbook their memories of peach-colored sunsets, whipping winds and a place that felt “mystical.”
“I think South Carolina has a diamond,” Burns said. “I hope people line up to do this.”
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